Jack Paar

Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American radio and television talk show host.

Highly emotional

Paar was often emotional and unpredictable; in 1960, a night after one of his jokes had been cut from the broadcast by studio censors, he announced suddenly that he was leaving the show. "I've made a decision about what I'm going to do. I'm leaving The Tonight Show. There must be a better way to make a living than this, a way of entertaining people without being constantly involved in some form of controversy. I love NBC But they let me down." Less than a month later he was convinced to return; on March 7 he opened with the now-famous line, "As I was saying before I was interrupted..."

Related Topics:
1960 - March 7

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The joke in question involved a woman writing to a vacation resort and inquiring about the availability of a "W.C." the lady used that term to mean "water closet" (i.e. bathroom), but the gentleman who received the letter misunderstood "W.C." to mean "wayside chapel" (i.e. church). The full text of the joke reveals multiple double entendres that are tame by today's standards, but too much for the network to bear in 1960.

Related Topics:
Bathroom - Church - Double entendre

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